Bolivian President Evo Morales waves as he boards his plane prior leaving the Vienna International Airport on July 3, 2013. (AFP Photo/Patrick Domingo) / AFP

‘An act of aggression and violation of international law’ is how Bolivia described the situation in which the Presidential plane was grounded in Vienna for almost 12 hours, over fears that Snowden could be on board.

Austrian authorities grounded Bolivian President Evo
Morales’ plane in Vienna early on Wednesday morning due to
suspicions that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was on board.
Morales allegedly refuted speculation that Snowden had stowed
away on the plane and allowed authorities to conduct a
search.

“We're talking about the president on an official trip after
an official summit being kidnapped,” Bolivia's ambassador to
the United Nations in New York, Sacha Llorenti Soliz, told
reporters in Geneva on Wednesday.

“We have no doubt that it was an order from the White
House,” ambassador Llorenti said. “By no means should a
diplomatic plane with the president be diverted from its route
and forced to land in another country.”

The ambassador has pledged to make an official complaint to
the UN.

There are contradictory reports about whether President Morales’
plane was actually searched in Austria.

The Bolivian Defense Minister Ruben Saavedra said no one boarded
the presidential aircraft - presumably to search for fugitive
U.S. intelligence analyst Edward Snowden - because Morales
refused them entry.

Bolivia's vice president said officials had made their way up to
the door of the aircraft, according to
Reuters.

However, Austria’s deputy chancellor said earlier, appearing to
cast some confusion over whether the plane was actually searched
or not, that Austrian authorities searched Morales’ plane for
Edward Snowden, but found no stowaways on board.

"Our colleagues from the airport had a look and can give
assurances that no one is on board who is not a Bolivian
citizen," Austrian Deputy Chancellor Michael Spindelegger
told the press.

The plane has now continued on its journey to La Paz,
with a refuelling stop-over in the Canary Islands.

The move to detain the presidential plane triggered a wave of
furious rhetoric from Latin American leaders who alleged it had
been “kidnapped by imperialism.”

Morales called on the countries who had cancelled air permits for
the presidential flight to explain their decision.

“The governments of France, Spain and Portugal must explain to
the world the reasons behind this delay,” said Morales,
adding that these actions were indicative of the “repressive
policies” of some EU countries.

“This is an excuse to try and frighten, intimidate and punish
me. An excuse to try and gag us in the fight against the dominant
economic powers,” said Morales.

France released a statement following the diplomatic scandal,
saying that permission was granted to enter French airspace as
soon as the authorities were aware “the aircraft in
question was that of President Morales.”

“Of course, never been any intention of refusing President
Morales’s plane access to our airspace; President Morales is
always welcome in our country,” read the statement released
by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

There was backlash in Bolivia where protesters burnt a French
flag in front of France's embassy in La Paz.

While, Maria Luisa Ramos
Urgazagaste, Bolivian ambassador to Russia warned that those
countries responsible for the incident would be held
responsible.

“From this moment on, if anything happens to President Evo
Morales during the rest of his journey the only culprits will be
those countries who orchestrated the shameful sequester of
President Evo Morales on July 2,” she said in a statement to
RT.

Ricardo Martinez Covarrubias, Bolivia’s Ambassador to Austria has
called the incident “unprecedented in
history.”

“Obviously, this event contradicts the very logic of
cooperation and co-existence of states. It also violates
international agreements and international law,” he said in
an interview with Spanish language RT Actualidad. It
was a display of “disrespect to the sovereignty of other
countries,” the diplomat added.

The Union of South American Nations – the region’s version of the
EU – is going to hold a meeting to discuss the situation, the
Ambassador said.

“First of all, they’ll certainly strongly condemn such
behavior. I’m sure that in future mechanisms to prevent such
incidents will be found, so that what has happened would never
happen to Evo Morales or any other plane…in case similar
suspicions arise,” Covarrubias concluded.

Morales finally flew out of Vienna on Wednesday morning after
being detained for over 12 hours in the airport. He will stop in
the Canary Islands to refuel before flying on to La Paz, the
capital of Bolivia.